Bay Area questions

I moved to Boulder, CO 6 years ago to be closer to climbing and I love living here. However, recently I received a job offer in the Bay Area and I'm considering moving there, so I have some questions for Bay Area climbers.

1. Where in the Bay Area would you live? I'm reasonably flexible. On the one hand I would like to be within a reasonable commute to work (Mountain View), on the other, I want to live close to climbing and in a nice part of town (preferably with pedestrian areas).
2. Is climbing after work a possibility in the Bay Area? Or are you limited to weekend trips to Yosemite?
3. I assume that climbing isn't as accessible as in Boulder, and even if there is some local after work climbing, one would be going to a rock gym most of the year when the days are shorter. What are the best rock gyms in the Bay Area? (living within a reasonable commute to one might influence my choice of location).
4. Does where you live have a huge impact on drive time to the Valley? I assume parts of San Francisco might take considerably longer with traffic to get away on the weekend.
5. In addition to climbing, I like to road bike... are there areas that are better/worse for bikers?

Also, if anyone has a clue, what should one reasonably expect to pay in rent for a nice one bedroom apartment that is close to a climbing gym, in a nice part of town and is pedestrian friendly?

(From my trips to the Bay Area, it seemed like everyone drove everywhere in places like San Jose, Mountain View, etc. San Francisco and Berkeley definitely have pedestrian friendly neighborhoods... are there other parts of the Bay Area with a good town feel?)

I would appreciate any information people are willing to share.

Plenty of nice towns in the Bay Area. Mountain View is nice , Menlo Park up the road where I live is nice .

Outdoor climbing after work is marginal at best . Yes , Castle Rock is up the road if you really like bouldering and short routes , other small local crags exist in Berkeley .

I have found the climbing gym to be the best option after work . Planet Granite Sunnyvale is excellent .

Rent is going up , housing market is stabilizing , and new Facebook money is buying up homes in great neighborhoods fast. Rent for a decent one bedroom is probably $1700 average , I am in the market for a new residence also .

Good luck and hit me up when you arrive if you are looking for a climbing partner . Vincent

1. Southbay/ East bay would put you closer to natural rock.

2. Yeah if you go to a gym. Or if you are in the southbay you might be able to get to Castle Rock area in the summer.

3. Well you have two choices for gym groups in the Bay Area.
Planet Granite (SF, Sunnyvale, Belmont) planetgranite.com/
OR
Touchstone Climbing (SF, Berkley, Oakland, Concord, San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno) touchstoneclimbing.com/
They are both great series of gyms. And there is PLENTY as you can see of opportunities to climb different stuff.

4. Yes it can. Ex. if you have to go through the financial district during rush hour on friday sometimes it will take an hour just to get less than 10 blocks. That being said it's not that bad everywhere in SF but living in SF will increase driving times. Being the the South or East bay will def shorten them.

5. Marin has some AMAZING road biking and you can get to it by just going over the GG bridge. I can't speak to what the east and south bay have in the ways of road biking.

Rent prices vary HIGHLY even within the city, not even talking about other communities around. My studio on Nob Hill cost 1125 a month, and that's on the cheaper side.

This past weekend I did Tenaya Lake to my door in Menlo Park in 4 hours and 15 minutes in my slow Toyota truck .

I would recommend a visit to check it out before fully committing.
I asked some locals about the climbing scene before I moved there and they summed it up pretty well and it went something like this...

Rock climbing in the Bay centers on gym training during the week and doing weekend trips to places like Yosemite, Tahoe, other areas that are all 3+ hours away.

Coming from Boulder, you're going to be depressed by the local climbing. Climbing after work is tough unless your work is close to a crag or you live right next to one. Traffic is an issue during regular commuting hours and working in Mountain View is going to put you in the thick of it.

The Bay is a great place to live, BUT as a climber living in the Bay, work schedule is critical. If you have one that is flexible or allows for mid weeks days off, then that changes everything. Coming for a M-F 9-5 job? Think that move over carefully. I've known several climbers (myself included) who did not last very long in the Bay primarily because climbing was far away and requires much more in the way of logistics than other places they had lived previously.

As for neighborhoods, I liked the East Bay. I always give North Oakland props on this board because it was a great place to live. The north side of Berkeley has some of the better bouldering in the Bay.

Thanks for the input guys!

It is kind of what I was expecting. I have made 4 trips out there looking at job offers (and back in college at grad schools). I have a mix of feelings. My first trip there I looked at Berkeley for grad school and remember thinking it was in a great place with beautiful views of the Bay... on later trips for job interviews, my opinion of the area went down as I got exposed to more traffic, strip-mall like development urban sprawl, and the weird "ghost town" nature of places like San Jose (it is a nice, clean city, but it always strikes me as odd that there are so few people on the streets as everyone drives everywhere... I lived in Boston prior to moving in Colorado, and if I am going to live in a city, I prefer the city feel of people actually walking around).

So, I'm really looking to figure out how to get that cool San Francisco/Berkeley feel in the bay area and not feel like I am in urban sprawl, but still have good access to work/climbing/biking/etc.

It does sound like gyms are the way to go for most of the year after work.

I'll also add that the road biking in the East Bay is world class. You can hop on your bike in Berkeley or Oakland, ride up over the coastal range, drop down the other side and ride forever on rolling terrain.
Same goes for Marin area and just about any part of the Bay. You can ride year round. Trail running in the Berkeley and Oakland hills is also quite good with lots of developed trail networks.

I don't know a whole lot about the South Bay, where your job will be, but it has always struck me as pretty car-centric, but I know there are some communities that are built more on the human scale, like Palo Alto among some others. However, you're going to pay (a lot) to live in those communities. The Easy Bay (Berkeley, Oakland) is very bike friendly and has the classic, neighborhood feel you are looking for. FYI... 2 bedroom with plenty of parking in a quiet neighborhood in N. Oakland was $1200 in 2010.

Hey Julius,

I have lived in both CO and CA and in particular, I have spent a lot of time in Boulder and the Bay Area. From my perspective, both places have things about them that I like and dislike. And personally, I would be psyched if I was able to call either place home.

There is no question that living in Boulder allows you to climb outside after work and that is indeed a really nice perk. If you live in Northern CA, (SF, East Bay, or Sacramento), then you will definitely be climbing at a gym during the week. On the plus side, however, is that the Touchstone system of gyms in CA (specifically the Oakland, SF, Berkeley, and Sac gyms) are far superior to the BRC and Movement.

As far as living situations are concerned, I would do anything I could to live in the East Bay (which includes Berkeley, Oakland, etc). Living in SF or on the Peninsula (i.e. Mountain View, etc) adds at least an hour to getting out of town on the weekend, not to mention they are a lot more expensive places to live. As far as urban sprawl is concerned, I don't think that needs to be that much of a concern for you. Do the Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, etc. type areas make me want to vomit at their stale strip malls and cookie cutter housing? Of course. But Broomfield etc. are not exactly devoid of this problem either, right? In other words, it will be relatively easy for you to avoid this issue. Unfortunately, if you are going to be working in Mountain View, then I would imagine that the commute from the East Bay would be pretty bad (you will need to ask someone else this question, because I have never had to do that commute). On another note, if you are into art, music, and food, then the Bay area is a far better place to live then the Boulder/Denver area. Does the Boulder Theatre get some good music? Sure. But there is no comparison between the Denver metro area and the Bay Area in the culture regard.

So what do you get in exchange for all this? Well, I love the Sierras plain and simple. There is SOOOO much quality granite in this state that it blows the mind. Once you get off the "SuperTopo" beaten path, then there is a vast amount of pristine rock with minimal people. Colorado has 50 times the number of people that climb and it shows when you get outside. The Southern Sierra, SoYo, Seki, Yosemite, Tuolumne, Sonora Pass, Cal Dome, and Tahoe are all weekend destinations for me. In short, when I first moved here, I was a little down about the lack of quick access to rock that you have in places like Boulder. However, when I got dialed into the what northern CA had to offer, I fell in love with what is here. I can leave my apartment on a Friday night at 7pm, drive three hours, and be drinking a beer and camping with nobody around for the weekend with virtually empty rock. And not chossy Eldo Rock (oh burn!!!), I mean God's rock: Sierra Granite!!! In fact, I am moving to the Boulder/Fort Collins area in the next 5 months, and in some ways I am sad as shit about it!!!

In short, I think that both places have a lot to offer and a climber can surely be happy in either place.
Cheers.

I'll answer what i can. I live in Sunnyvale.

1. Where in the Bay Area would you live? I'm reasonably flexible. On the one hand I would like to be within a reasonable commute to work (Mountain View), on the other, I want to live close to climbing and in a nice part of town (preferably with pedestrian areas).

i picked Sunnyvale because proximity to work and climbing gym (planet granite sunnyvale). Because I'm at either, or playing soccer, it doesn't matter to me what social life i have. on weekends i'm in yosemite/etc.

2. Is climbing after work a possibility in the Bay Area? Or are you limited to weekend trips to Yosemite?

depending on work, you could probably go to castle. i just boulder there, bouldering is awesome. sport sucks there. But mostly... gym climber (i know how everyone hates them)

3. I assume that climbing isn't as accessible as in Boulder, and even if there is some local after work climbing, one would be going to a rock gym most of the year when the days are shorter. What are the best rock gyms in the Bay Area? (living within a reasonable commute to one might influence my choice of location).

for near mountain view, planet granite sunnyvale. If you can commute, i guess you could Caltrain to your work in Mountain View and there are gyms in SF. i just climb at 1 gym

4. Does where you live have a huge impact on drive time to the Valley? I assume parts of San Francisco might take considerably longer with traffic to get away on the weekend.

yes. I'd suggest in the Mountain View area, take HWY 84 across and you beat the "Cisco clog" up on 880. ask me for details later if you need

5. In addition to climbing, I like to road bike... are there areas that are better/worse for bikers?

i bike to work for the whopping 2 miles... thats it, can't answer question otherwise